Converting Garages to Living and Working Spaces: Garage Door Blog

Garage Door Issues That Can Arise From Severe Spring And Summer Weather

13 May 2015
by Landon Little

Severe weather can take a variety of forms during the spring and summer months in Canada. These include hail and heat waves, lightening and thunderstorms and even tornadoes. While the first order of business during a severe condition would be to ensure the safety of you and your family, you should also be mentally prepared that these conditions can also cause damage to your house as well. Your garage door is possibly one of the more vulnerable areas to the effects of weather conditions, since it is quite often less protected than other areas of your house.

The garage door issues that can arise from severe weather can range from the simple inconvenience to a major source of monetary spending and safety considerations for your home. Here are two such issues to consider.

Lightening to the door

Each year up to 10 Canadians are killed by lightening. An additional 100 to 150 persons have also been found to be injured by lightening each year. The optimum force of a given lightening strike can deliver up to 100 million volts of electricity. Having such power interact with your garage door transmitter can cause what is known as a phantom operation which can lead to such inconveniences as the garage door refusing to respond at all or causing it to open and close on its own.

When faced with a problem such as this, where lightening may have scrambled your garage opener, the most likely way to get this fixed is by a technician who sells or services your brand of garage doors. The transmitter will either have to be repaired or replaced. This can cost anywhere from $75 to about $450.

Blowing in the wind

Many areas of Canada have experienced what is known as a straight-line wind which is not a tornado but is strong enough to sometimes be mistaken for one. In fact, these winds can have wind gusts in excess of 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) per hour and can cause a lot of damage to trees and buildings. They can also cause flying debris, which can then pose quite a problem for your garage doors if they are hit directly.

Since direct wind can put the doors under high amounts of pressure, there may be problems with the mechanisms that cause the doors to function normally so these should be assessed right away. Winds can also prompt the need for replacement of such items as springs, faster than the recommended 5 to 6 years. You may also find that the doors may need to be repaired or replaced if there are cracks or gaps in the door from flying debris.

About Me

Welcome to my corner of the internet. My name is Gina, and I have always loved making the most of spaces. In this blog, I am going to give you the tips and tricks you need to turn your garage into a living space. Here, I plan to cover everything from insulating the garage to installing new garage doors. If you need to add anything from a music studio to a kids' play room in your garage, you have come to the right place. I have been converting garages both professionally and personally for years. Please explore, and I hope you like these posts!

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